They can also earn $25 bonuses by agreeing to receive their statements online, making one online bill payment, signing up for direct deposit and using their debit card at least one.

Do all four and you can have $100 added to your balance.

On top of that, the Free Checking account pays 0.10% APY on your balance.

Although that’s a pretty pathetic interest rate, consider the times in which we live.

With all the big banks looking for ways to make customers pay more and more for their checking accounts, we have to applaud the way Firstmark is treating its members.

The credit union primarily serves the residents of San Antonio through 11 local branches as well as the employees and students of public school districts and colleges in 13 counties.

But anyone can join online.

Just hit the orange button on the credit union’s home page that says “Open A Free Checking Account.”

On the next page, hit the orange button that says “Become A Member.”

When the third page appears, go to “Other Eligible Groups” and use the pulldown menu to select “None of the above.”

Now Firstmark will tell you that you can join by becoming a member of the Friends of the Park Foundation, a charitable group that supports the San Antonio Parks Foundation.

And here’s where things get really interesting. Firstmark will pay your first year’s dues, and you’re under no obligation to renew your membership for a second year.

In other words, it costs you nothing to join Friends of the Park Foundation and qualify for membership in the credit union. (This was such an unexpected surprise when we saw it on the website that we called Firstmark to make sure it was true. We were assured that it is.)

Here’s one more great perk that makes joining Firstmark more feasible for savers who don’t live in San Antonio.

Firstmark is part of the Allpoint network, which provides its members free use of 35,000 ATMs nationwide and 43,000 around the world.

All of the ATMs you see in 7-Elevens, Target, Walgreens and Costco, for example, belong to Allpoint.